Portal V2 – self-hosted tunnel for localhost with end-to-end TLS (ngrok alternative)

Hello r/selfhosted, I'd like to share Portal v2, a self-hosted tunneling network.

Portal is a self-hosted relay network for tunneling localhost to a public URL. It uses outbound reverse connections, so it works behind NAT or firewalls without port forwarding. Additionally, end-to-end TLS secures traffic between the browser and the local app.

If you're familiar with ngrok, the use case is similar — but you can host your own relay for others to use, or connect to any existing relay.

What`s new in Portal v2?

Portal v2 introduces a new architecture based on SNI passthrough and keyless TLS.

Instead of terminating TLS at the relay, the relay only performs TCP-level SNI routing.

TLS handshakes are signed using keyless TLS, so the relay never holds the private key and cannot decrypt traffic.

This provides end-to-end TLS between the browser and the localhost service, while still allowing public relays to route connections.

Links

- GitHub: https://github.com/gosuda/portal

- Example relay: https://portal.thumbgo.kr

- VS Code extension: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=gosuda.portal-tunnel